They tell her about places like Escalante (Their sister owns a resort there, a resort self has already resolved to visit, her curiosity is insatiable) and Sagay.

She tells them about home.

Weng, at the Negros Museum Café

Weng again. There is something very disarmingly child-like about her. She can always make self laugh.

And this is Gemma, who is married to gentle Guido. Theirs is quite a story: how they fell in love, how Guido got Gemma into a cooking course in the Netherlands, how they ended up together in Bacolod.

In the Phinma Gallery, right next to the Café, is an exhibit of phantasmagorical paintings. Self doesn’t know who the artist is (There are no captions next to the paintings, which is slightly frustrating)

Detail of another phantasmagorical painting in the Phinma Gallery

It did not rain today, which was great.

Self is reading a story called “Between Ship and Ice,” by Chelsey Johnson. It’s in One Story, Issue Number 181.

Despite her complaints about the fine print being increasingly difficult for self’s myopic eyes to handle, she always brings at least several issues with her on a trip because they are so easy to slip into her purse.

This story, as the title suggests, is of course about cold places. Specifically, Norway. Specifically, polar bears.

Today, also, and this is pretty amazing, she met with the owner of Mely’s Garden. More about that later. Suffice it to say, it was 2 p.m., and Mely placed in front of self a dish of ginataang kangkong and chicken adobo that self ate with such unaccustomed rapidity that it gave her a stomach ache. Then she went to the Negros Museum Café and ate some more.

But who in their right minds would turn down fresh madeleines and ginger lime drinks? Who?